Comment:

When they formed at the tail end of the '90s, Avenged Sevenfold were still in high school, which got us thinking — how did they go from the demon-spawn delivery of their debut, 2001's [i]Sounding the Seventh Trumpet[/i], to such welcome detours as the country-fried Americana of "Dear God," the ravaged alt-rock of "Scream," and the Top 40-bound thrash of "Critical Acclaim"? Easy — they've always been that way. If you listen closely, there's a heartstring-tugging power ballad ("Warmness On the Soul") halfway through [i]Trumpet[/i], and its follow-up, [i]Walking The Fallen[/i], takes cues from the [i]Black Album[/i]-era of Metallica ("Eternal Rest") [i]and[/i] the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (see also: Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage) they were right in the middle of cofounding.